Q-GERT Model of the Contracting Cycle.

To improve the efficiency of a Government contracting organization, a manager must predict the consequences of decision alternatives. There are so many variables workload, resources, experience levels, changing procedures that predicting, or even measuring, the effect of various decision alternatives is very difficult. The research objective was to construct and test a Q-GERT model of the contracting cycle of an Air Force research and development contracting organization. Data was collected on the contracting procedures used. Twenty-eight contract networks were developed, from the administrative notice to the ten million dollar competitive contract. Each network was divided into many small tasks. Experienced buying personnel provided estimates of a range of time to complete each task. The result was that the model successfully imitated the contracting cycle time from receipt of the purchase request to the contract award. A manager can use the model to test the effect of changes in resources or procedures on the contracting cycle time. The model should be a valuable management tool. Author